Improvement in marking plug-tobacco



. J. T. DRUMMOND. Marking Plug Tobacco.

No. 200,133. Patented Feb. 12,1878.

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N PETERS. FHOTGLITHOG UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES T. DRUMMOND, OF ALTON, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 200,133,

dated February 12, 1878 application filed November 6, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES T.-DRUMM0ND, of Alton, county of Madison, and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Marking Plug-Tobacco, which is fully described in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a pound plug of tobacco marked or spaced off im accordance with my invention, and Fig. 2 a sectional view of the same, taken on the line 00 a, Fig. 1.

The object of my invention is to mark plugtobacco in such a manner that the retail dealer can out the lump into smaller plugs, or pieces of equal and definite sizes, and at the same time the wrapper will be secured to the filling by means of the marks or indentations.

My invention consists in making the plug of tobacco with a series of indented lines upon its face or faces, which are arranged so as to space off the surface of the plug into sub divisions of uniform and definite size and weight, whereby they become guides in cutting up the plug for retail sales, and which also serve to more firmly secure the wrapper to the filling, so as to prevent the starting of the former from the latter.

It is customary in the manufacture of tobacco to make plugs that weigh one pound.

Plug-tobacco is mostly retailed in pieces of one or two ounces in weight. It is more expensive to make up small plugs of these sizes, and consequently it is desirable to manufacture tobacco in large lumps, and let the retailer cut them up as he sells them. But the seller experiences great inconvenience in cutting the plugs into pieces of just the desired quantity; hence guides are desirable to enable the dealer to out from a large plug exactly an ounce, or two ounces, or any definite quantity, consisting of the unit of sale or some multiple thereof.

In the drawings, A represents a plug of tobacco supposed to weigh a pound. On the surface of this lump are lines B, which extend transversely across the plug-that is, at

right angles to its longer edges-thereby dividing it into eight equal parts, the lines being seven in number, and arranged at equal distances from each other. Each one of these subdivisions a will therefore contain two ounces of tobacco if the entire lump Weighs a pound, as supposed.

The retail dealer uses these lines as guides in cutting up the lump, as he sells it to his customers in small pieces.

It is evident that when the lines are arranged as described above the dealer can readily cut off a piece weighing two ounces, or any multiple thereof. If desired, another line may be extended across the plug longitudinally-that is, at right angles to the lines B-and, if arranged centrally, thev entire lump will be divided into sixteen equal parts, of an ounce each, and may be cut accordingly.

Should any other unit of sale be adopted, or should the plug be of different size, the size of the subdivisions should be varied correspondingly; but the marks are always placed so as to serve as accurate guides in cutting up the large lump. The lines may also be made in each face of the plug, and, in fact, this is desirable in securing the additional function of the indentations hereinafter specified.

I intend to make these marks by pressing a wire into the surface of the plug when the plug is made; but I do not limit myself to any particular way of marking the plug, as there are various ways in which I may make the plug in such way that the mark will serve as guides in cutting up the plugs, as above described.

The indentations in the lump serve another useful purpose. In the ordinary lump the wrapper frequently starts from the filling, especially in damp, wet weather. This is an injury to the plug, and it is the object of manufacturers of this kind of tobacco to prevent it as much as possible. In a lump made as described above the indentations assist in holding the wrapper to the filling, and as they are extended all over the face of the lump, and may be increased in number at pleasure, there is little danger of separation between the wrapper and filling.

Having thus described my invention, What I for cutting up the plug into' small pieces 0t claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters definite size and weight, substantially as and.

Patent,' it-- for the purpose set forth.

As a new article of manufacture, a plug of JAMES T. DRUMMOND. tobacco one or both faces of which are marked Witnesses: off by indented lines, which serve to secure F. H. FERGUSON, the Wrapper t0 the filling, and also as guides J AS. MONULTY. 

